Dr Pearse Lyons challenges attendees at the 2012 Alltech North American Lecture Tour to consider how the agricultural industry is going to feed nine billion people by 2050.

"Marked by a desire to investigate and learn"- this is the definition of curious in Webster's dictionary. While this characterization may accurately describe a third grader's eagerness to learn in the classroom, does it describe the agricultural industry? Curiosity has put men on the moon, sequenced the human genome, seen physicists complete a decades-long search for the Higgs boson and now it has led us to precision nutrition, epigenetics and a nutritional revolution. Are we staying curious?

During this year's 28th annual North American Lecture Tour, Alltech will be challenging attendees to Stay Curious. The 23- stop tour, taking place from Feb.12- March 1, will encourage attendees to stretch beyond conventional practices and explore how the latest technological developments can move the agriculture industry forward today.

Stay Curious topics include:

CURIOUS about branding and building profit from the core? Ideas for building and maintaining an advantage through branding in an increasingly competitive and interconnected world.

CURIOUS about a natural, pure, sustainable source of fatty acids and high quality proteins? Algae, can it revolutionize the way we feed?

CURIOUS about your carbon footprint? What is a carbon footprint, and why is it important to you? The New Zealand Government will subsidize emissions from farmers until at least 2015; how long will taxpayers subsidize the agri-sector, which accounts for 50 percent of its carbon emissions? As carbon footprint comes under the microscope, how can we respond to address these challenges?

CURIOUS about nutritional breakthroughs and solutions? What we must understand to maximize productivity. If the world record is 72,000 pounds of milk, why do we settle for 20,000+ pounds? Is the grading system out of date? What are the obstacles to maximizing EPS (Efficiency, Profitability and Sustainability)?

"As an agricultural industry, we are faced with increases in corn and soy prices and a rising global population to feed, all while trying to find solutions to minimize pollution and maximize traceability. Instead of waiting for someone else to solve our problems, we need to embrace these global challenges together," said Dr. Pearse Lyons, president and founder of Alltech. "To be successful, you must adapt, have curiosity and embrace change."

Dates and locations for the 2013 North American Lecture Tour are below. Times are listed according to local time for that location.